Cape Pallarenda Race recap
Sunday 20 September 2020
This 21km trail race fell smack bang in the middle of my two weeks holidaying in far north Queensland. In the seven days leading up to the race I had completed two of my mountain projects (Mt Bartle Frere and Mt Halifax) and had also gone to Magnetic Island to run some more technical trails, so it was definitely not a normal race build up for me. I did not even know there was a race on until SJ who I was visiting in Townsville invited me along. Given I am coming back from a plantar fasciitis injury I thought it would be a good opportunity to get in my first half marathon trail race back and also boost my confidence racing in hot, humid and exposed conditions. Also in these Covid-19 times there is a lot of uncertainty over when we will next be able to race, so it is advisable to race when you can. I came third, a fair way from second and also with a big gap to fourth, so was basically running alone for most of the race.
The course
Cape Pallarenda is not how you would imagine tropical paradise. It is a dry, rocky and exposed headland just to the north of Townsville. Most of the trails are shared with mountain bikes so features a lot of switchbacks and technicality thanks to the naturally occurring and man-made obstacles on those trails. The Wednesday before, I had to go to Townsville earlier than planned for van repair, so hired a mountain bike and rode the Under the Radar trail at Cape Pallarenda. This trail is 9km of single trail that makes up the later part of the race. It is very rocky with limited shade.
Mountain biking on Under the Radar Wednesday before the race.
a hill than a mountain, though the climb is mostly very technical with a lot of rock hoping and dodging roots. The descent off Mt Marlow is steeper. The course then follows a flat firetrail through the mangroves (snake heaven) before joining up with Under the Radar. After this, there is a loop up and down a hill followed by 500m of sand running before heading up to the finish chute in the park.
Sand running before the finish line.
Finish line which confusingly says ‘Start’! The start was at a different location at a firetrail gate. Luckily I was with SJ who knew where the start line was.
Before the race
Race preparations were extra special for me because I got to spend two nights with SJ in Townsville. It was fairly luxurious sleeping inside a house on a bed after a week sleeping in a van. I also got to wash all my clothes so had fresh socks and my running gear did not smell like mouldy rainforest and squished mango. The night before the race we had probably the most memorable homemade hamburgers ever. SJ even toasted the bun and melted the cheese in the oven. It was nice staying with a fellow runner because I could talk about shoe selection with someone who understands the importance of shoes. I had been wearing Salomon Ultra Pro for most of my runs in Queensland because it is a protective shoe with enough cushion for my plantar fasciitis but a low enough stack height for technical trails. It is super heavy (280g per shoe) so does not feel like a race shoe. I wanted to wear my new Salomon slab Ultra 3 (249g) but had not worn these in and the debris collar rubs my ankle. SJ was also tossing up between shoes. After much weighing of shoes (while her kids questioned how sane we both are) we selected shoes and went to bed for the 5am wake up.
The heat, humidity and exposure
Ever since I had heat stroke during a race at the end of 2017 I have been very anxious whenever I have had to race in hot weather. I now go out of my way to acclimatise for potentially hot events, training in the middle of the day and doing heated spin bike sessions and sauna acclimatisation. This time I had seven days in far north queensland to acclimatise. The Wednesday before the race I had done a technical 15km run in the middle of the day on exposed trails at Magentic Island, so I knew how hard the heat and humidity makes running. Despite on paper being acclimatised, I still felt nervous as this was an entirely self-supported event. I decided to bring 1L of water instead of the 1.5L that I had taken on all long runs while in Queensland. Warming up at about 6:30am it was 25 degrees and very humid. I sipped 500mL of water before the race.
I had decided to start conservatively due to the hot conditions and my plantar fasciitis injury. The first 400m is along a firetrail before there is a sudden turn onto a technical single trail climb. SJ started fast to get a good position on the single trail climb. Steph Auston was running next to me and chatting to the guy to her left. Just before the single trail she sprinted to skip about 7 people. I did not see SJ or Steph again, as the first couple of kilometres were technical and bendy. Although it was already 25 and humid, this side of the hill was still shady at 7am. Realising this I decided to push harder on this section. During the climb up Mt Marlow I overtook two men then was very much by myself. The top of Mt Marlow is very dry grass and at this point you could tell just how hot it was going to be in the second half of the run.
The descent off Mt Marlow was fun and fast and my foot was not hurting yet. However, I really needed to go to the toilet. I probably should have gone to the toilet a second time before the race but I felt fine. At this point I needed to start sipping water to avoid dehydration but my bladder was full and I could not even take a sip of water I was that uncomfortable. I started looking for places I could stop but there were none as there was barely any vegetation. There was a fast and flat section along the mangroves, but I did not want to stop as stopping on the fast section is not smart and a guaranteed way to help competitors catch up. I entered the Under the Radar trail which is also fast but technical in parts. I could see that there was no one in front and no one behind for at least 500m (the distance I could see). I ducked off the track then and was probably 30% faster after that stop, so well worth the few seconds. This was at about the 10km mark, so afterwards I could sip water and have a gel and run in comfort.
The heat was very noticeable by now, being 27, humid and in direct sunlight. I was absolutely dripping. It was difficult to toe the line between pushing at race pace but not pushing too much that I would struggle at the end (or not finish due to heat stroke).
After the race I recovered much quicker than normal, and within a few minutes was chatting away with people. This is really unusual as if I put in a solid race effort I am usually destroyed afterwards. I see this as an indication I can push harder than I think in hot weather, so next time I will not be as conservative. This race really helped boost my confidence racing in hot, humid and exposed conditions.
Plantar fasciitis
My right foot has had plantar fasciitis for 14 weeks (after my left foot had plantar fasciitis for 6 months). While I am definitely on the mend and almost back to full running load, my foot is aggravated by fast and flat running and hard surfaces both of which featured in this race. A fortnight ago I had run a 16km trail race at Kuipto and my foot hurt from start to finish, so there has been big improvement since then. It was such a relief to run without pain on the technical ascent and descent of Mt Marlow. By the 14km mark my plantar fasciitis was noticeable painful such that I could not bomb the downhills anymore.
After running by myself for most of the race, towards the end of Under the Radar I overtook two men (Townsville locals struggling with the heat) and then closed the gap to the next men in the 21km race so that I was running just behind them for the last three kilometres. The loop up and down the hill at the end of Under the Radar was a slog. This should have been completely runnable but I did do a few steps of power walking on some of the rocky uphill parts as I was so hot and also preparing mentally in case the course was longer than 21km. Although I was close to the guys ahead of me, I lost this on the downhill, as I could really only descend at normal long run pace, definitely not race pace due to my plantar fascia pain. The last 500m of sand running was fairly brutal due to this surface putting extra strain on foot tendons, ligaments and fascia, but it was not so deep that I could not continue running due to the pain.
I have serious respect for the trail runners who live in far north Queensland! Even if you start before sunrise, the heat and humidity here is crippling pretty much all year round. Despite this, they are a super friendly and welcoming bunch and it almost makes you wish you lived here so that you could be part of this awesome community. I have also heard that most other races are in shady rainforest locations, so definitely looking out for those next time I visit. Thanks to Outer Limits Adventure for putting on such an excellent race.